University of Virginia Library

University Plays Host

Science Symposium Ends Today

A meeting of the sixth annual
Virginia Junior Science, Humanities
and Engineering Symposium, which
got underway at the University
Sunday, December 8, ends this
afternoon.

The University's School of Engineering
and Applied Science, with
the support of the U.S. Army and
the University of Virginia Alumni
Fund, is sponsoring this program
for 220 high school juniors and 55
teachers, representing 65 Virginia
high schools.

The participants' time is being
spent in lectures, panel discussions,
and in visiting the scientific and
engineering facilities of the University.
In small groups, the students
are visiting research projects where
a scientist or engineer is actively
engaged in work, said Edward C.
Stevenson, professor of electrical
engineering and director of the
symposium.

We hope "to involve the visitors
to a much greater extent than is
customary in walk-through
tour . . . The gamut of investigation
from initial problem to final result
or product will be traced in each
case in a way which will emphasize
the distinctive characteristic of research
and development in general
and will show by example what a
career in the field might be like,"
he added.

While at the University, the students
"have the opportunity to
discuss careers in pure and applied
science with experts in the several
disciplines," said Mr. Stevenson.

Sunday evening, T. Graham
Hereford Jr., associate professor of
humanities discussed "The Scientific
and Technological Ecology of
Nature and Man," with the visiting
group. Yesterday afternoon ten students
read papers on their individual
science projects. These ten
were selected from a group of 30
submitted to the University's engineering
school, six of which will
represent Virginia at a national
science symposium later this year.

This morning Thomas G.
Williamson, associate professor of
nuclear engineering, will speak on
the importance nuclear energy in
today's world and in the world of
the future.

Directly afterwards Richard
Hartman of the U.S. Missile Command
at Alabama's Redstone Arsenal
will deliver a talk on lasers.

While the students attend their
programs, the teachers will attend a
conference sponsored by the
materials science division of the
School of Engineering and Applied
Science. At 1:00 p.m. today the
symposium officially ends.